Fine wine is produced and bottled globally in standard 750 ml and 1500 ml glass bottles of various shapes and styles. The process of making wine includes steps of gathering the fruit, preparing the fruit, pressing and extracting the juice from the fruit, fermenting the juice and then storing the fermented juice for some extended time prior to bottling. Most often the wine is stored in oak barrels during this extended storage time prior to bottling. Winemakers use this time to continuously taste the wine as it ages to determine when it is ready for bottling and sometimes to determine which barrels to blend together for a final wine product.
With many inexpensive, large production wines, a stabilizer additive is used to provide protection against oxidation and to extend the shelf-life of the wine once it is uncorked by the end user. Most all of these large production wines are meant for immediate consumption by the consumer—that is, once the bottle is purchased from the local wine merchant it is most often consumed within 48 hours of purchase. As such, the wine is filtered and goes through a process called fining whereby certain additives are used to accelerate the precipitate formation prior to filtration. This provides a bottled wine that will contain no sediment from the wine creation and aging processes—wine ready to drink.
Most fine wines, those from rare vineyards or from top rated winemakers are bottled directly from the barrel with little or no additives and without the fining process. These wines are produced, barrel aged then bottled, but are not quite ready to consume just yet, as most will need additional aging time in the bottle to reach their peak flavor and texture or mouth feel. Many consumers of these fine wines will purchase these and store them in their cellars for years waiting for the best time to consume these wines.
With bottle aging the wines will throw off a precipitate that will collect in the bottle in the form of sediment. Throughout history many different sediment avoidance measures have been created to help extract the precious fine wine without dispensing any of the accumulated sediment. Most often the wine will be stored in bottle with the bottle lying on its side to allow the cork to remain wetted by the wine. This prevents the cork from drying out and allowing oxygen to penetrate and oxidize the wine. As a result of storage on the bottle side, the sediment will form on one side of the bottle, as gravity pulls the heavier sediment downward. When planning to consume a particular bottle of wine, the wine is pulled from the cellar and set upright for a day or so prior to opening, thus allowing the sediment to migrate to the bottom of the bottle.
Now ready to open the wine, the bottle is uncorked carefully and the wine is dispensed from the bottle into another container called a decanter. The user slowly pours the wine into the decanter watching carefully through the glass bottle neck for the sediment to arrive. As the bottle begins to get near to empty the sediment will begin to mix with and pour with the wine. As soon as the pourer sees the sediment reach the bottle neck the pour is discontinued. The wine transferred into the decanter should be clear and free of any residual sediment and ready to consume. In many instances, the pourer will pour over top of a candle, using the light to help see through the glass neck, which is often formed of a dark colored glass and difficult to see through in low light situations.
Another benefit of moving the wine from the bottle into a decanter container is that the process of pouring the wine causes it to stir and tumble allowing oxygen to get to the wine and open it up, or as commonly known, allow it to breathe. Most fine wine consumers will allow a wine some time to breathe before drinking—30 minutes or more in some cases. Additional agitation of the wine during decanting or once in the decanter can sometimes help to speed this process along, allowing the impatient consumer the ability to taste their wine without the wait. Indeed, several novel devices have been created to help speed this process, including venturi devices, spiral funnels, screened funnels and the like.